City of Glass (Mortal Instruments Trilogy) by Cassandra Clare
Whee. I finished another book. And I'm also trying out a new format for reviewing books.
Title: City of Glass
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published: March 24, 2009
Genre: young adult, urban fantasy
Pages: 541
First Line: "The cold snap of the previous week was over; the sun was shining brightly as Clary hurried across Luke's dusty front yard, the hood of her jacket up to keep her hair from blowing across her face."
Product Description (from amazon): To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that enter-ing the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?
Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the final installment of the New York Times bestselling trilogy The Mortal Instruments.
Review: Hands down, this was the best of the three books. Although Clary annoyed me for the first few chapters when she seemed to revert to a two year old throwing a tantrum, but it got better. The POV shifts throughout all the main characters at one point or another, which I liked, but was a bit confused with, as the previous two books in the trilogy were mainly from one character POV.
Simon and Alec were my favorite characters. Simon spent the whole book being generally awesome and I found myself rooting for Alec's relationship with his boyfriend, Magnus, a lot more than I did with the main characters, Clary and Jace's. Probably because the latter spent the entire three books going back and forth on whether or not they were going to date at all. That got a bit boring after a while.
Worst part: Clary's behavior at times annoyed me. Especially when she told near strangers things that could put people in danger or when she was whining, but she wasn't that bad. Also, the parentage of Jace was kind of obvious and a little soap oprah-y.
Best part: Any time Simon, Alec, or Magnus was in the scene.
Grade: A.
Other Books by This Author: 'City of Bones' and 'City of Ashes'.
It's such a shame these books are over. There was still a few questions left in the air (for instance, what happens with the mark of Cain?) that I'd like to see answered, but I don't think Clare is going to write anymore in this series. Even though I really hope she does.
Oh well, now it's time to wait for Richelle Mead to come out with the next book in the Vampire Academy Series in a few weeks on the 25th of August. I'm really hoping she doesn't commit one of my reading pet peeves after the ending in the third book. Just a few more weeks. ;)
-U